Bluetooth®-Based Travel Time/Speed Measuring Systems Development

Project Description

Agencies in the Houston region have traditionally used toll tag readers to provide travel times on freeways and high-occupancy vehicle lanes, but these systems require large amounts of costly and physically invasive infrastructure. Bluetooth® is a widely used technology embedded in cellular telephones and in-vehicle applications for exchanging data over short distances.

The initial demonstrations proved Bluetooth technology could be used to calculate travel time and speed. Costs for Bluetooth travel time measurement systems are one to two orders of magnitude below costs for traditional toll tag reader equipment, depending on the application. This cost advantage could significantly lower the threshold for hundreds of agencies and private entities to enter the travel time measurement market, but there is little guidance on the application. Development and testing of various prototype software and hardware platforms were conducted to use the anonymous Media Access Control (MAC) address from each Bluetooth device to measure and report real-time traffic conditions.

While the feasibility of the TTI prototype system has been successfully demonstrated, there is a need to further test and develop equipment and systems to read and process data in a more permanent roadside environment, particularly on arterial streets. Because of the early positive results, several agencies have now deployed the system and are currently using the device, installed in traffic signal cabinets, for travel time monitoring.

Texas Transportation Researcher Articles

NOW: Taking It to the Streets: Collecting travel time data, speed with Bluetooth technology - Volume 46, Number 1

Link

Link: Final Report: Bluetooth®-Based Travel Time/Speed Measuring Systems Development

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